Project Natal Xbox 360 Blog

- Microsoft unveiled a new motion-sensor game controller that would allow gamers to control XBox 360 machines with body motions similar to Nintendo’s market leading Wii. It made an announcement at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3 in Los Angeles. Joining us now to discuss the new technology as well as the future of Microsoft gaming is Heather Snavely, director of XBox global brand. Miss Snavely, is the new motion-sensor technology in attempt to compete more directly with Nintendo?

- You know, the new… Project Natal is our way of inviting more people into play. One of the greatest barriers to gaming has been the controller. There’s a lot of buttons, it can be complicated. Now if you’ve never picked up a game controller, you’ll never have to with Project Natal. Because it uses the best controller ever – you.

- So I was just kind of say for those of us, our listeners on radio, we’re looking at some video now. Basically, you’re talking about, you can wave your arms, you can wave anything and the game responds.

- You can. There’s the sensor, the Project Natal sensor, reads your body movement in 3D. It hears your voice, it recognizes your face, it captures all that. So really all you need to do is step in front of the TV and start playing.

- Some brave new world. When can the public expect to see games made for this new techology?

- You know, we showed just a taste of what you can expect yesterday during E3. And we haven’t announced yet when it will be available.

- How was it received when you showed it?

- Oh, it’s amazing. You know, the number 1 thing Google asked today is Project Natal. People are crazy about it, they are excited about it. I’ve had the chance to play it and I can tell you there’s nothing like it.

- Heh. How will the Microsoft Zune player be integrated into XBox system?

- Actually, we’ve integrated Zune into our video marketplace. So we’ll be bringing HD, highest quality HD movies, to your TV in an instance. So, cinema quality on the comfort of your couch at the push of a button. No disk, no download, no delay.

- How long is this technology in the pipeline?

- Project Natal, the software. We’ve been working on that software in Microsoft research for 20 years. And just now the technology is cut out so we can bring the dream to life.

- Video games’ sales have slumped in the US in the past two months. Do you think that trend is going to continue?

- You know, I think people are craving entertainment, they want ways to bring their friends and family together. Games like “the Beatles Rock Band” which we had Paul and Ringo on stage yesterday to unveil the first pick of what it’s gonna look like on XBox. Games like that are going to bring people together. And I think you gonna see them spending more time and money on video games.

- Miss Snavely, we have about 30 seconds left. How many XBox systems are you expecting to sale this year? Are you on pace to meet your target?

- You know, we’ve sold 30 million XBox systems up today. We have 20 million of subscribers to XBox live. We continue to see momentum and we really believe we’ve got a strong year ahead of us.

- Heather Snavely, joining us from Los Angeles, she’s director of XBox global brand. Miss Snavely, thank you.

So I’ve got a try on this new Microsoft’s “Project Natal”. And … was awesome, it’s obviously a body recognition software, there’s nothing on you, there’s no controller. You have an avatar that is perfectly matched all your motions, and then you’ve got to use your body to do stuff. The breakout game was really superphysical, it was really fun, I was sweating at the end of it. Not that’s a good thing, but that’s how it all went down. Cos I … with everything I played.

I played a driving game. I just stuck my arms out steering. And the car went, it was unbelievable. It is literally the future, this thing. I do that you play a game with no controller, with no touchpad with nothing attatched to your body. And it recognizes everything you’re doing. It was insane. It’s gonna change gaming forever. For sure.

Well I really like cooperative F- and TPS games. So I would make like a very immersive fighting game where you can play cooperatively with friends and you can all be in one room and you can have screens all around. And you can … running around with them and screaming commands like “Get out of my way or I’ll hit you in the face”. And “How come up I cover you as you never cover me?”. And “Get off my way or I’ll gonna kill you. I don’t care… “. That kind of stuff. So the game where you can use your body and kind of use cover and kind of use space that your enemy … has it all. Almost like that you could do like laser type in your house and you could build the put-offs with all around your living room and then use them inside the game. And if I wanted to shoot I would … like “Gzh, gzh, gzh, gzh…” That’s a game that I won’t even call that game. I would call it f… awesome.